Printer for flexible tube



June 20, 1961 w. A. SHIELDS PRINTER FOR FLEXIBLE TUBE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 20, 1959 ATTORNEYS June 20, 1961 w. A. SHIELDS 2,988,986

PRINTER FOR FLEXIBLE TUBE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 20, 1959 I N VE NTOR 0 I WCZZZEI ATTORNEYS June 20, 1961 w. A.- SHIELDS 2,988,986

PRINTER FOR FLEXIBLE TUBE Filed April 20, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 g 6. (28 m 7. A V// A W m INVENTOR Walter A. Shields United tates Paten 2,988,986 PRINTER FOR FLEXIBLE TUBE Walter A. Shields, Long Island City, N.Y., assignor to Chas. Pfizer & (30., 'Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 20, 1959, Ser. No. 807,636 Claims. (Cl. 101-35) This invention relates to a device for printing information upon tubes made of flexible material, andmore particularly relates to a printing device for automatically imprinting information upon tubes carried along a conveyor.

Tubes made of flexible material, for example, plastics such as polyethylene, or metals such as tin, lead and aluminum, find widespread use as containers for flowing materials such as liquid and paste preparations. Some of these preparations such as pharmaceutical products are highly perishable and should not be stored too long before being used. Furthermore, even when this storage period is not absolutely critical, it is desirable to mark an indication of their filling dates upon these tubes to make sure that those tubes which are first filled are first distributed.

One means of accomplishing this is to print information, for example, lot number or filling date, upon the tubes when they are labeled or decorated. However, this procedure requires the storage of considerable quantities of predated tubes, thereby requiring a great deal of care in inventory control; and despite the greatest of care, it might result in long or short supplies of certain tubes. This problem is highly critical when tubes having label information lithographed thereon are used because these tubes must be printed a long time before use to' insure an adequate supply of tubes during the filling operation and represent a substantial investment which could not be readily scrapped.

An object of this invention is to provide a simple device for conveniently marking a date or lot number upon a tube made of a flexible material.

In accordance with this invention, these flexible tubes are dated as they move automatically along a conveyor, for example, toward a filling apparatus. A printing device for automatically imprinting information indicative of filling date upon these tubes is disposed alongside this conveyor, and the tubes are accordingly only dated immediately before use. This positively avoids any oversupply or undersupply of tubes bearing the proper date or lot number corresponding to a particular filling.

Further in accordance with this invention, a carriage means is movably mounted upon a guide secured to the frame of the machine and moves toward and away from the open end of a tube in line therewith in a direction having a principal component parallel to the axis of this tube. A backing arm is mounted upon this carriage for insertion into the open end of the tube in a position adjacent its wall when the carriage moves toward the tube. A printing element bearing printing type is also connected to the carriage in a manner which causes its movement in a direction having a principal component perpendicular to the axis of the tube when the carriage moves toward the open end of the tube thereby urging the type into contact with the outside of the portion of the wall of the tube adjacent the inserted backing arm for printing the dating information upon the outside of the tube. This printing element is also connected to the carriage in a manner which causes its movement in a direction for withdrawing it away from contact with the tube when the carriage moves away from the tube and abstracts the backing arm from within the tube; As each successive tube is placed in alignment with the printing device, the carriage accordingly first moves toward the ice tube to imprint the desired information thereon, and after the backing arm and printing element are withdrawn from contact with the tube, it is moved away from the printing device. Another tube is then similarly automatically imprinted when it replaces the marked tube in alignment with the printing device.

Novel features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art from a reading of the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein similar reference characters refer to similar parts and in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view in elevation of one embodiment of this invention; 7

FIG. 2 is a side view in elevation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view in elevation taken through FIG. 1 along the line 44 in one phase of operation;

FIGS. 57 are cross-sectional views similar to FIG. 4 in successive phases of operation;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken through FIG. 5 along the line 8-8;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken through FIG. 7 along the line 9-9; and

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken through FIG. 2 along the line 10-10 with the sprocket chain removed.

A printing device 10 is shown in FIGS. l-3 in conjunction with conveyor 12 which, for example, transports tubes 14 made of a flexible material, such as polyethylene, with their capped ends 16 disposed within carriers 18 and their open ends 20 extending upwardly. Conveyor 12, for example, moves tubes 14 into and from alignment with printing device 10 toward a filling apparatus (not shown) to permit the information pertaining to date of filling to be imprinted upon these tubes just before they are filled.

Printing device 10, for example, includes a pair of printing elements 22 which simultaneously operate upon each pair of tubes 14, as shown in FIG. 1, which are conveyed in the direction of arrows 23 simultaneously into alignment with these printing elements upon conveyor 12 which, for example, may proceed from printing devic 10 to a filling apparatus (not shown).

The operative elements of printing device 10 are shown in detail in FIGS. 4-9, and FIGS. 4-7 show these opera tive elements in successive stages of operation. The following discussion is accordingly prirnarly directed to a discussion of FIGS. 4-9; however, FIGS. 1-3 show how these elements are incorporated within a complete structural assembly, and the elements shown therein also operate in a similar manner.

In FIG. 4, carriage means 24 is shown at its upper limit of travel upon slotted guides or rails 26 which are mounted upon frame 28 of device 10. Carriage means 24 includes a printing carriage 30 which is directly connected to a driving assembly 32, and a backing arm carriage 34 is, for example, mounted upon another slotted guide 36 which is secured to another portion of frame 28. Backing arm carriage 34 is, for example, urged toward its upward limit of travel by tension spring 38, and it is moved downwardly in conjunction with printing carriage 30 by bridging arm 40 attached to printing carriage 30 which contacts upper surface 42 of backing arm carriage 34 when printing arm carriage 30 has moved a predetermined distance downwardly toward the open end 20* of tube 14. Tubes 14 are, for example, transported in a vertical position with their open ends 20 passing under carriage 30 and 34; and these carriages accordingly move toward and away from open ends 20 of tubes 14 in a direction having a principal component parallel to the axes of tubes 14.

A pair of backing arms 44 are mounted upon carriage (a 34 and moved downwardly with carriage 34 to insertion within open ends 20 of tubes 14 and lie adjacent the inner walls 46 of tubes 14, as shown in FIG. 6, which illustrates their lower limit of travel.

Printing elements 22 having printing type 48 mounted thereon are coupled to printing carriage 30 in a manner causing movement of printing element 22 in a direction having a principal component perpendicular to the axes of tubes 14 when carriage 30 moves toward open end 20 of tubes 14 to urge type 48 into contact with the outer surface 50 of tubes 14 disposed adjacent inserted backing arm 44 for printing information such as date or lot number upon the outer wall 50 of tube 14. Printing elements 22 are also connected to carriages 30 in a manner causing their withdrawal away from contact with tube 14 when carriage 30 moves away from the tube and causes backing arms 44 to be withdrawn from within them. This upward and downward movement is transmitted to driving element 32, for example, by a pneumatic piston (not shown) through connecting rod 52 in synchronism with operation of conveyors 12.

Printing element 22, as shown in FIG. 9, includes, for example, a shaft 54 rotatably mounted within bearings 56 of carriage 30. A pinion or circular rotation generating means 58 secured to shaft 54, for example, by set screw 60 engages stationary rack or linear reaction means 62 mounted upon frame 28 for rotating shaft 54 as carriage 30 moves upwardly and downwardly. Lever 64 is rotatably mounted upon shaft 54 and connected thereto by slip clutch means 66 which includes, for example, a reaction disc 68 secured to shaft 54 by set screw 70 and a pressure plate 72 urged into resilient contact with lever 64 by spring 74.

At the lower end of lever 64 is rotatably mounted a printing shaft 76 within a boss 78. A pair of printing wheels 80 including peripheral recesses 82 within which are mounted type 48 are secured to shaft 76, for example, by means of set screws 86. Shaft 76 extends past one of printing discs 80, and a sprocket 83 is secured to this extension, for example, by means of set screw 90. A sprocket chain 92 connects sprocket 88 with another sprocket 94 mounted upon shaft 54, for example, by set screw 96 for transmitting rotational movement of shaft 54 to shaft 76.

In FIG. 2 printing element 22 is shown at its upper limit of travel with lever 64 in contact with stop 98 mounted upon carriage 30. In this position, backing arm 44 is disposed in line with the inner wall '46 of tube 14, and printing wheel 80 is positioned clear of the outer surface 50 of tube 14.

In FIG. 5, carriage 30 has been moved a considerable distance downwardly together with carriage 34 which has been carried down along with carriage 30 by bridging arm 40. The rotation imparted to shaft 54 by the meshing of pinion 58 with rack 62 has rotated the lower end of lever 64 toward the outer surface 50 of tube 14. However, as shown in FIGS. and 8, lever 64 is arrested by contact with the end of an adjusting screw 100 mounted upon projecting arm 102 secured to carriage 34. This maintains the face of type 48 a distance d away from the front surface of backing arms 44 and prevents their contacting these backing arms 44 while they are both disposed above the open ends 20 of tubes 14.

During the movement of carriage 30 from the position of FIG. 4 to that shown in FIG. 5, type elements 48 are rolled in contact with an inking pad 104 which is, for example, mounted as shown in FIG. upon a bar 106 secured to frame 28, for example through plate 108 shown in FIG. 2 and rack 62. After being rolled across inking pads 104, type elements 48 are maintained a distance d away from backing arms 44 to maintain them in condition for a printing movement down the outer surfaces 50 'of tubes 14 as shown in FIG. 6.

In FIG. 6, backing arms 44 have entered within the open eniis 20 of tubes 14 and lie closely adjacent inner surfaces 46 of tubes 14. Printing wheels are rotated in proper synchronization with movement of carriage 30 through sprockets 88 and 94 and chain 92 (shown in FIG. 9) to roll type 48 along the outer surfaces 50 of tubes 14 at a proper speed to clearly print their included information upon these tubes.

After reverse movement of carriage 30 is actuated by drive assembly 32, reverse rotation of pinion 58 engaging rack 62 moves the lower end of lever 64 away from tube 14 through slip clutch 66. Lever 64 is accordingly rotated until it is arrested against stop 98, and it is held in this position while clutch 66 subsequently slips during the remainder of the upward movement of carriage 30. Printing wheels 80 are accordingly withdrawn from contact with tubes 14 as backing arms 44 are also withdrawn by upward movement of carriage 34 which is actuated by springs 38. When carriages 30 and 34 reach their upper limits of travel shown in FIG. 4, they are once more ready for another downward movement toward the next tubes 14 which have been moved into alignment therewith as the imprinted tubes are moved toward their next operative station.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for printing information upon a wall of a tube made of flexible material comprising a stationary frame, support means for said tube mounted upon said frame for maintaining an open end of said tube unobstructed, carriage means, guide means mounted upon said frame and movably supporting said carriage means adjacent the open end of said tube in a manner permitting movement of said carriage means toward and away from said open end of said tube in a direction having a principal component parallel to the axis of said tube, a backing arm mounted upon said carriage means for insertion into the open end of said tube adjacent a wall of said tube when said carriage means moves toward said tube, a printing element having type means attached thereto, a coupling means connecting said printing element to said carriage means in a manner causing movement of said printing element in a direction having a principal component perpendicular to the axis of said tube when said carriage means moves towards said open end of said tube to urge said type means into contact with the outside of the portion of said wall of said tube adjacent said inserted backing arm for printing said information thereon and in a direction to withdraw said printing element away from contact with said tube when said carriage moves away from said tube and abstracts said backing arm from within said tube, drive means connected to said carriage means for moving it toward and away from said open end of said tube upon said guide means, a conveyor means being mounted adjacent said device for carrying said tubes into and from alignment with said carriage means, said conveyor means supporting said tubes with their open ends extending upwardly, and said carriage means moving vertically upwardly and downwardly toward and away from said tubes.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein a pair of said backing arms and a pair of said printing elements are mounted upon said carriage means for simultaneously imprinting a pair of said tubes.

3. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said carriage means is comprised of a pair of carriages mounted upon a pair of said guide means, said backing arm being mounted upon one of said carriages, said printing element being mounted upon the other of said carriages, and coordinating means bridging said carriages for moving them downwardly toward said open end of said tube in a predetermined relationship.

4. A device as set forth in claim 3 wherein a bridging arm is mounted upon said printing element carriage, and said bridging arm is constructed and arranged to contact a surface of said backing arm carriage to move it toward said tube in predetermined relationship with said printing element,

5. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said printing element includes a lever rotatably mounted upon said carriage, said coupling means comprises a rotational drive means, slip clutch means connecting said rotational drive means to said printing lever in an arrangement which rotates the free end of said lever toward the outer surface of said tube when said carriage moves toward said tube and away from contact with said tube when said carriage moves away from said tube, and printing type being mounted upon the free end of said lever for printing said information upon the outer surface of said tube when the wall of said tube is grasped between said backing arm and said type.

6. A device as set forth in claim 5 wherein said rotational means includes a shaft rotatably mounted upon said carriage, a circular rotation-generating means being mounted upon said shaft, a linear reaction means mounted upon said frame and engaging said circular rotationgenerating means for imparting rotational movement thereto as said carriage moves toward said open end of said tube.

7. A device as set forth in claim 6 wherein said circular rotation-generating means is comprised of a pinion, and said linear reaction means is comprised of a rack.

8. A device as set forth in claim 7 wherein a printing disc is rotatably mounted upon the lower end of said printing lever and motion-transmitting means connects said printing disc with said shaft for rotating said printing disc in synchronism with the downward movement of said carriage for positively rolling said printing disc down the side of said tube in imprinting said information thereon.

9. A device as set forth in claim 8 wherein an inking pad is disposed in the path of movement of said printing disc as it moves toward said open end of said tube, and said slip clutch means moves said printing disc into contact with said inking pad when said carriage moves toward said open end of said tube.

10. A device as set forth in claim 9 wherein a projecting arm extends a slight predetermined distance in front of said backing arm for holding said printing disc a slight distance away from said backing arm as said printing disc and said backing arm move toward said open end of said tube to prevent imprinting contact of said printing disc upon said backing arm before said disc is moved into contact with said tube.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Lysobey June 10, 1952 

